Abstract
This article poses these questions: How do participants on two different courses in folk high schools in Sweden, a basic course and a theatre course, motivate their educational and occupational choices, and what similarities and differences can be identified? We analyse interviews with students drawing on a narrative approach. Five trajectories emerge: desire to get away; desire to get back on track; desire for employment; desire to change occupation; and desire to realise one’s dreams. We argue that these trajectories reproduce existing social stratification in society, whereby certain futures are available to some people, and not to others.
Highlights
This article focuses on occupational choice as a component of students’ life histories, embedded in specific social structures and contexts (Reay, 1995; Reay, David & Ball, 2005)
The article is a response to the argument that there is a need for greater focus on the life histories of individuals, and how these are connected to wider social structures, in order to understand how and why occupational choices are made
We focus on an educational institution in Sweden, the folk high school (FHS), that primarily delivers non-formal education, ranging from compensatory education to elite education
Summary
Wir analysieren Interviews mit Studierenden, gestützt auf einen narrativen Ansatz. Narrativas sobre la elección educativa y ocupacional entre jóvenes de secundaria postobligatoria en Suecia. Este artículo plantea estas cuestiones: ¿Como motivan sus elecciones académicas y profesionales los jóvenes participantes un curso básico y uno de teatro en los centros de educación secundaria superior en Suecia? Se analizan entrevistas con los estudiantes que dibujan su aproximación narrativa. Emergen cinco trayectorias: el deseo de marchar, el deseo de volver al itinerario, el deseo de empleo, el deseo de cambio de ocupación y el deseo de realizar los propios sueños. Se argumenta que estas trayectorias reporducen la estratificación social existente en la cual algunos futuros están disponibles para algunas personas y no para otras
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